I was up bright and early on Sunday morning, just before 6:ooam, headed off to Jon's race. My race followed directly after, at 10:30am. The weather had warmed up for my start, and each category had a very good sized field. I was racing for the Elite Women's championships in Elite pro1/2 category. The course had a very good kicker of a climb. We were to complete 8 laps total of a 10.5km circuit. It was a short race, but it was still very challenging. Having some of the fastest girls to race against in Canada and British Columbia was sure to make it hard!
The race started at the top of a short steep uphill popper. It continued downhill and around the university, through a few round-abouts and then onto the back stretch in a very windy head/cross wind. We continued on a very bumpy road into a sharp right hand corner onto a uphill. It continued up for about 600m, and then the grade of the climb got pretty steep for about 800m total. It was a tough, power climb that tired out the legs a bit each lap.
There was a big cash sprint prime on the first lap, and I was able to take it, thanks to some team mate help as well! The race continued on, with lots of attacks. There was a KOM on laps 3-6, which made the climb super fast, shelling people of the back of every category.
The group that was left was slowly widdled down, and the end came sooner than expected. I had
made it up each climb. I knew the last climb was no problem, no matter how fast, as the last climb before a sprint finish I run almost purely off of adrenaline and excitement of getting to sprint. We tried to set up a lead out at the end of the race, but everyone was riding so aggressive it was hard to manage. I was, again making the mistake, second into the last corner. A gap had opened ahead of me through the corner. The sprint was uphill, and I was closing the gap SUPER fast. If I had one more meter I would have had it as I was carrying a lot more speed. I ended up in second, which I'm still happy of. I have to start playing with the technical part of the sprint more. It was a fun race, and everyone on Trek Red Truck raced really well!
Wow- A weekend off now before nationals. The first weekend off since April 3rd, and the last until August 20th. I'm back in the groove of racing and sprinting and I'm very excited for the next race. I'm a bit sad I am not going to Banff this coming weekend, but a weekend to rest, recover my back and then travelling to Ontario will tire me out enough!
It will be nice to go back to Ontario and eat campbells soup and cherries off the tree every day at my grandparents house- quite looking forwards to it. I have the biggest race of the year in two weekends- and I am the most prepared I have been for nationals before. It will be the toughest course I have ridden for national championships, but all I can do now is rest, train, sleep and suffer. I'm already very nervous, but nerves are a good thing aren't they?
Stay tuned- Everything happens so quickly lately, and a blog post from that will be up as soon as its over! (National Time Trial- June 23rd, National Road Race- June 24th, National Criterium June 26th) Results should be up on Canadian cyclist- follow the links on the right side of my blog!
All for now,
Karlee
Great race! Looking forward to seeing you soon and especially watching you race once again!!! A much stronger rider since the last time I saw you race 9 months ago!
ReplyDelete